World of Warcraft Classic Servers: What We Know So Far

We're rounding up all the information released so far about World of Warcraft Classic Servers that were announced this weekend at BlizzCon 2017!\r\rWatching the convention from home? Check out Wowhead's Discord to discuss BlizzCon and get the News Webhook for all BlizzCon 2017 news alerts!\r\rBlizzCon 2017 Coverage\r\rThis Article is part of our BlizzCon 2017 Coverage. \rIf you are interested in knowing more about World of Warcraft Panels, check one of the articles below\r\r The Art of World of Warcraft Panel\r Design a Dungeon Boss Live Panel\r Battle for Lordaeron Diorama\r Upcoming Backpack Changes\r Before the Storm Cover Art Reveal\r\r\rYou can also see our full coverage in our Coverage Recap\r\rClassic Servers\r\r\r\rWhat We Know So Far:\rNot too much information yet, but that's due to it being extremely early in the development stages.\rNo release date yet\rNo decisions on connections to live servers (i.e. will account-wide stuff be available, etc.)\rNo decision on servers dedicated to expansions other than Vanilla WoW.\rNo decisions made yet about which patch the server will exist during, or what (if any) patches will be implemented.\rThey want it to be a "Blizzard-quality experience" which means a polished product.\rThere was community involvement in the decision - directly (such as dungeon runs) and indirectly (general feedback.)\rThey currently do have an internal, old build working that they can play around on.\rThey are in the process of hiring new employees for this project, and have already hired for it.\r\r\r\r\r\r\rSome Outstanding Concerns:\r\rWhat engine will the Classic Servers run on - i.e. 8.0 or 1.21?\rHow will the talent system work? Which vanilla iteration?\rWill mounts dismount when swimming (and other QOL questions)\rHow will respeccing work?\rWhat will the economy be like?\rWill WoW Tokens be allowed?\rHow will players pay for WoW Classic?\rWill they be free if you have an active sub?\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\rSources for the above content:\r\rFrom Perc and Panser interviews:\rQ: What was the breakthrough that finally allowed classic servers?\rA: It's true, quite a difficult problem, but we're excited to work on it. It's still really early in the process so we can't answer too many questions about it yet.\r\rQ: What was the deciding factor on classic servers?\rA: We're not the right people to ask but we're super excited! It's happening!\r\rQ: Some stuff isn't in the game any more, will that stuff be obtainable on classic servers? Will it then be account wide?\rA: We don't know, to be determined, we're not sure. It's super early at this point.\r\rQ: Will there be classic servers for other expansions?\rA: Not sure, TDB!\r\rOpening Ceremony:\rWoW cinematic "WoW Classic"\rAnnoucement of development of a Classic Server option. Authentic, Blizzard quality, classic experience but it's a larger undertaking.\r\rEurogamer.net interview with J. Allen Brack\rI'll get a couple of questions out of the way here, which I suspect you can't answer. When is WOW Classic going live?\rJ. Allen Brack: We don't know yet. Just like every Blizzard game.\r\rAnd I suppose you're not ready to talk, in any detail, about how it'll work?\rJ. Allen Brack: Some of the reason for why we're not ready to talk about that is... we actually don't know yet. The important announcement today was: we're doing this. We've heard the community, we've heard our own internal teams, we've heard all the comments over the years. When it comes to the details, we don't know all of the answers just yet. There's also the fact that now we've announced this, we might want to partner with the community on some of those answers. WOW changed a lot in the first two years, before The Burning Crusade came along, and so, how exactly should it work? Those are questions we need to talk about, for sure.\r\rAm I right in thinking the Nostalrius team provided you with access to their build at some point?\rJ. Allen Brack: Yeah, they did. We did a dungeon run with some of the folks, it was an old school Scholomance run. It was interesting.\r\rJ. Allen Brack: Yes. That's part of the level 60 experience. Our goal is to recreate that classic 1-60 gameplay. Some things changed as time went on, with different patches. How does that get manifested? That's one of the outstanding questions. But yeah, the goal is to recreate that exact experience, for better or for worse\r\rHow far into this process are you? Do you have a build that you can actually play, internally, and figure some of this stuff out?\rJ. Allen Brack: We've got some infrastructure stuff in place. We've got an old build that's up and running that we're using for reference. Most of this job is going to be infrastructure: making sure everything can work on a more modern setup. Then there'll be the design questions, ones that the community will have strong opinions on: should UBRS be 10-person, or 5-person? Things like that.\r\rJ. Allen Brack: You've highlighted the big ones. Before we started work on this project, we couldn't actually run vanilla WOW. The hardware is different. The operating systems are different. There was no way for it to just work.\r\rAre these going to be separate development teams? One working on Battle for Azeroth and one working on WOW Classic?\rJ. Allen Brack: Yeah, so it was really important for us to be able to answer the community honestly. How many raids is this going to cost them in Battle for Azeroth? The answer is zero. We're going to hire people specifically for this effort. We already are.\rJ. Allen Brack: This is a massive effort. This is a very, very significant effort. I would not expect it to be soon. We actually don't know when we're going to release it\r\rHas Blizzard maintained a relationship with the people behind the unofficial legacy servers? I know the Nostalrius guys visited Blizzard at one point.\rJ. Allen Brack: We've talked to Daemon and Viper, the leads for that project, a handful of times since that visit.\rDo you see them being more heavily involved in WOW Classic?\rJ. Allen Brack: We would welcome their involvement, for sure. I think one of the challenges is that they're both French and so there's a little bit of a visa concern, but we'd be open to it. They're very passionate and strong Blizzard fans, clearly.

Commentaires

Commentaire de AnotherSheep

Will absolutely jump on this to see if I really do still like vanilla :P

Commentaire de Meebo

on 2017-11-04T15:59:37-05:00

If people want classic servers they should get the classic experience, without all the niceties that the current game provides.

Commentaire de puggled

on 2017-11-04T15:59:48-05:00

Those extra questions couldnt be anymore vague haha. I'm looking forward to rolling a character on the classic realm anyway.

Commentaire de 1810468

on 2017-11-04T16:02:57-05:00

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

Commentaire de dclee85

on 2017-11-04T16:03:23-05:00

I wonder if the original unarmored epic mounts will be a part of this. Would be cool to have the Ivory Raptor, which is still one of my favorite looking mounts.

Commentaire de Jawlien

on 2017-11-04T16:03:59-05:00

I'm curious tho. Would you be able to choose new graphics and character models? Hm

Commentaire de ShiniOfTheGami

on 2017-11-04T16:04:02-05:00

Def gonna give these a try but not sure what to expect from them yet :P

Commentaire de Arcal

on 2017-11-04T16:04:48-05:00

The first thing I'll do is make a human character and try to get under Stormwind with the 'torch glitch'

Commentaire de KillaKilling

on 2017-11-04T16:05:03-05:00

I can't wait to finally get Benediction!

Commentaire de Doneire

on 2017-11-04T16:08:23-05:00

I can't imagine that classic servers will be linked to live servers, especially if Scarab Lord is going to be on the classic servers. As cool as it would be, I'm sure people would not be happy.

Commentaire de Thorwen

on 2017-11-04T16:08:31-05:00

This hype will keep me pumped for months on end for sure ! :D Wish you luck Blizz, do you best, shouldn't be hard since you already did best! :P

Commentaire de MissSeekerz

on 2017-11-04T16:08:57-05:00

I am super excited about this server! I will definitely be starting a new character so I can experience the whole thing new. I started in wrath so it's exciting!

Commentaire de Ozazel

on 2017-11-04T16:09:19-05:00

I feel like it's just going to be server like they have now, instead of PvP, PvE, RP ittl just say classic, itll all be under the same account and subscription. The main question is what's PvP gonna look like, OH MAN, remember going into a low level area and auto attacking mobs to get you weapon skill lvl up.

Commentaire de EuphPizza

on 2017-11-04T16:09:53-05:00

I feel like a lot if not 80% of the WoW population would probably spend the entire BfA expansion in the vanilla\/classic servers\/realms.

Commentaire de SuperAdam

on 2017-11-04T16:10:26-05:00

Amazing to see respect between the Nostalrius team and Blizzard, finally bringing Vanilla back officially! Can't wait to see you all there.

Commentaire de Vynistra

on 2017-11-04T16:10:32-05:00

If they really want to go Classic, you better need to keep any pets\/mounts you want to summon in your bags, haha.

Commentaire de Evrael

on 2017-11-04T16:10:39-05:00

Will we see Saurfang cleave Org in half... with his backhand via MC? missing in the battle of azeroth movie so disappointed. why blizz why?

Commentaire de DarknessinZero

on 2017-11-04T16:11:12-05:00

I just don't understand the appeal.

Commentaire de BlueOctopus

on 2017-11-04T16:11:24-05:00

I feel like they're keeping a lot of things vague since they don't want to give us information that could change in the future. It's still so early on.

Commentaire de grayshirt

on 2017-11-04T16:11:55-05:00

Q: Some stuff isn't in the game any more, will that stuff be obtainable on classic servers? Will it then be account wide?\r\rVanilla had 0 account wide systems.... why would a classic server have account wide features? (Bnet not withstanding) \rAre people actually expecting stuff like titles, transmog, toys, achievements, mount and pet journal to appear on a classic server?